Games aren't geared towards regular players, they're made for streamers to sing, dance & lose their marbles over, so that others attempt to emulate them.
We see that more and more with modern slot design, and you can be sure that developers sought to replicate that on many of their older IP, where the variance has most definitely been made top-heavy so as to keep up with The Joneses.
These games aren't hardwired, but 'live', and so the notion that a company's incapable or unwilling to tweak gameplay via 'patches' is what's laughable, all the more so when none of these patches are ever fully disclosed.
Bonanza has always been absurdly unique in its behaviours, and so why wouldn't BTG, or rather Evolution, amend its variance, provided it falls within the 96% RTP parameters? Bonanza's likely fallen down the pecking order in both player base and streaming viability.
I'm sure it's possible to lose £20 in varying ways on the same game, and still be at the same RTP. And the accounts being heard post- Evolution takeover do indicate that THAT marked a significant change in gameplay, at complete odds with say 2016 Bonanza.
Given those players' hours and money invested, I tend to lean on their experience, as I'm sure their travails are valid and not simply borne out of boredom